Chapter XII - Christian Science Practice
Benefit of philanthropy
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human system will be acknowledged. It is proverbial
human system will be acknowledged. It is proverbial
that Florence Nightingale and other philanthropists en-
gaged in humane labors have been able to
undergo without sinking fatigues and expo-
sures which ordinary people could not endure. The ex-
planation lies in the support which they derived from
the divine law, rising above the human. The spiritual
demand, quelling the material, supplies energy and en-
durance surpassing all other aids, and forestalls the
penalty which our beliefs would attach to our best
deeds. Let us remember that the eternal law of right,
though it can never annul the law which makes sin its
own executioner, exempts man from all penalties but
those due for wrong-doing.
Honest toil has no penalty
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Constant toil, deprivations, exposures, and all untow-
Constant toil, deprivations, exposures, and all untow-
ard conditions, if without sin, can be experienced with-
out suffering. Whatever it is your duty to do,
you can do without harm to yourself. If you
sprain the muscles or wound the flesh, your
remedy is at hand. Mind decides whether or not the
flesh shall be discolored, painful, swollen, and inflamed.
Our sleep and food
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You say that you have not slept well or have overeaten.
You say that you have not slept well or have overeaten.
You are a law unto yourself. Saying this and believing
it, you will suffer in proportion to your belief
and fear. Your sufferings are not the penalty
for having broken a law of matter, for it is a law of mortal
mind which you have disobeyed. You say or think, be-
cause you have partaken of salt fish, that you must be
thirsty, and you are thirsty accordingly, while the oppo-
site belief would produce the opposite result.
Doubtful evidence
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Any supposed information, coming from the body or
Any supposed information, coming from the body or
from inert matter as if either were intelligent, is an illu-
386:1
sion of mortal mind, – one of its dreams. Realize that
sion of mortal mind, – one of its dreams. Realize that
the evidence of the senses is not to be accepted
in the case of sickness, any more than it is in
the case of sin.
Climate and belief
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Expose the body to certain temperatures, and belief
Expose the body to certain temperatures, and belief
says that you may catch cold and have catarrh; but no
such result occurs without mind to demand
it and produce it. So long as mortals declare
that certain states of the atmosphere produce catarrh,
fever, rheumatism, or consumption, those effects will
follow, – not because of the climate, but on account of
the belief. The author has in too many instances healed
disease through the action of Truth on the minds of mor-
tals, and the corresponding effects of Truth on the body,
not to know that this is so.
Erroneous despatch
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A blundering despatch, mistakenly announcing the
A blundering despatch, mistakenly announcing the
death of a friend, occasions the same grief that the friend's
real death would bring. You think that your
anguish is occasioned by your loss. Another
despatch, correcting the mistake, heals your grief, and
you learn that your suffering was merely the result of
your belief. Thus it is with all sorrow, sickness, and
death. You will learn at length that there is no cause
for grief, and divine wisdom will then be understood.
Error, not Truth, produces all the suffering on earth.
Mourning causeless
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If a Christian Scientist had said, while you were labor-
If a Christian Scientist had said, while you were labor-
ing under the influence of the belief of grief, "Your sor-
row is without cause," you would not have
understood him, although the correctness of
the assertion might afterwards be proved to you. So,
when our friends pass from our sight and we lament,
that lamentation is needless and causeless. We shall